Long Marine Lab Stranding Program volunteers responded to a gray whale calf near Sunset State Beach on May 4th, 2012. In collaboration with Mr. Bob Nabuhara with the Monterey Bay Academy, the calf was pulled out of the surf line early Friday. Volunteers then performed a necropsy on the calf later that afternoon. A missing tongue and characteristic teeth, or rake marks, led the team to conclude that the calf was killed by a group of orca whales within the last 48 hours.Volunteers from Long Marine Lab perform a necropsy on a young gray whale calf.

These are teeth marks, called rake marks, made by an Orca whale during the attack on this gray whale calf.